Educating a Nation: Democracy, Defense, and the Federal Hand

 Harvard faces an unprecedented threat to its scale and role in the life of the Nation. Its lack of compliance with the President has made it face the potential of losing billions of dollars of federal funds. As well endowed as the university is, a significant portion of its operating budget comes from federal grants and programs. It is not unique in its reliance on the federal government, as most universities are working closely with the state in their roles as producers of research and educators. The recent tiff with the President has exposed just how deep this state and school relationship runs. The relationship formed organically over a long period of time, but with two primary motivators for the American Government. 

The fact that America is a democracy necessitates a certain quality of citizen. Following the precedent of the Athenians, most democratic founders have understood that success can only be found when those who govern are fit to govern. For some democracies, this was as simple as trusting the beneficent motives of landowners to care for what they own, but for other democracies, it required a strong focus on education and character formation to ensure that citizens were competent to perpetuate their government to the next generation. The freedom of democracy requires that it is continually entrusted into the hands of those who will not abuse that freedom. Education is one of the most effective and historically used means of state manipulation of the populace, for good or for evil. Whether in Prairie schools or public universities, the federal government has always held education in high esteem for its ability to form individuals. The effectiveness of education to make capable citizens has continually justified high education spending.

In the 1950s and 60s, the second great reason for federal education funding intensified. Competition with the Russians led the American government to greatly increase spending on K-12 education, as well as high-level technological and social research. The threat of another country with a more adept and technologically prepared citizenry forced educational funding to increase as a prerequisite to survival. Top researchers at the most elite universities were incentivized to work on government projects or research that could add to the breadth of American knowledge, and the connection between academia and industry grew. Government contracts seeking specific knowledge or techniques reshaped some areas of academia into a results driven industry. Whether that result was higher reading comprehension among sixth graders or high-level research on aviation materials, the federal government learned how to use the school system as a well-paid tool.

If the government is to be so intimately involved in the school system, there must be a shared understanding of the role of a citizen. This does not necessarily need to extend to character or even any specific set of beliefs, but there must be an idea of who we want to be voting. A results-oriented system with no results to orient itself towards will inevitably fail, which is why public education has struggled for so many years. If it were run by the community in which the students lived, each community could define their own objectives. However, as long as the state is involved on the national level, it must have a bipartisan set of principles that can be strived towards. Children growing up constantly being switched between regimes will be detrimental to both their character development and ability to be discerning citizens. Each administration has earned the right to affect education, but there must be a more clearly defined focus that stands above an election cycle, because it is the basis of our governance.

Just as wise kings trained their children to be mighty and just, so also must this country train its hundreds of millions of future rulers. As appealing as it is to pretend that values need not be defined, the ever present threat of democratic decline must spur the uncomfortable definition of desired “American Citizen Attributes.” If not formed intentionally, character will become a victim of arbitrary forces and become formed nonetheless. While the perpetuation of democracy is vital, so also is the existence of the nation in which self governance occurs. Through promoting technological development and important social research, the federal government can safeguard the freedoms of citizens from foreign invasion. Government involvement with education will continue to be to mediocre as long as these two pillars are not protected